Terms of Use
Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
Every oral history relies on the memories, views, and opinions of the narrator. Because of the personal nature of oral history, listeners may find some viewpoints or language of the recorded participants to be objectionable. In keeping with its mission of preservation and unfettered access whenever possible, BHS presents these views as recorded.
The audio recording should be considered the primary source for each interview. Where provided, transcripts created prior to 2008 or commissioned by a third party other than BHS, serve as a guide to the interview and are not considered verbatim. More recent transcripts commissioned by BHS are nearly verbatim copies of the recorded interview, and as such may contain the natural false starts, verbal stumbles, misspeaks, and repetitions that are common in conversation. The decision for their inclusion was made because BHS gives primacy to the audible voice and also because some researchers do find useful information in these verbal patterns. Unless these verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator’s speech while editing the material for the standards of print.
All citations must be attributed to Brooklyn Historical Society:
[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
These interviews are made available for research purposes only. For more information about other kinds of usage and permissions, see BHS’s rights and reproductions policy.
Josephine English
Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan
April 29, 2008
Call number: 2008.030.13
0:50 - Early life; medical school; training; beginnings as one of Brooklyn's first Black OBGYNs
13:13 - Description of Central Brooklyn circa 1950; Women's Health Center; practicing medicine
21:36 - Change in gynecology; local health services and Bed-Stuy Restoration Corp. (BSRC) clinics
29:55 - Founding the Adelphi Medical Center and the Paul Robeson Theater in Fort Greene
39:44 - Racism, sexism in contemporary society; 2008 US presidential election; social evolution
51:59 - Ethnic tension in Crown Heights; delivering Malcolm X's children; local Brooklyn politics
61:29 - Founding of BSRC and political leadership within the Black community; the Black church
76:04 - Social change movements in Brooklyn and the USA; current medical practices
82:33 - Necessary changes to Brooklyn's Black community; drug abuse, HIV, and other social ills
90:50 - Her successful family, small-town upbringing; Brooklyn's individual communities
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Josephine English
Dr. Josephine English was born in 1920 in Ontario, Virginia. After her mother's early death, English and her siblings were raised by her single father in Englewood, New Jersey. She attended Hunter College as an undergraduate, attained a master's degree in psychology from New York University; and went to medical school at the historically African American Meharry Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee. Upon graduation in 1949, Dr. English worked as one of New York's first African American female doctors at Harlem Hospital. After relocating to Brooklyn to work and live, Dr. English founded the Women's Health Center, Adelphi Medical Center, and the Paul Robeson Theater in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. Dr. English died in 2011 at the age of ninety-one.
In this interview, Dr. Josephine English relates stories from her life's history, including tales from her childhood and her career as a doctor. She details her experiences with sexism and racism, encountered during medical school and later, as a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist. She describes her achievements as an OB-GYN: Having delivered thousands of babies (including the six children of Malcom X and Betty Shabazz), and founding the Women's Health Center. Dr. English reflects on her community activism, including founding the Paul Robeson Theater, and the Adelphi Medical Center. She openly shares her personal opinions on the practice of medicine today as it relates to women and the indigent; her thoughts on modern social ills such as HIV, gentrification, and displacement; and her views on politics and religion. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan.
Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration) partnered on the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral history project in 2007-2008 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Restoration's founding as the first community development corporation (CDC) in the United States. Nearly sixty interviews were conducted with founding Board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members. Audio clips from these oral history interviews were included in the exhibit "Reflections on Community Development: Stories from Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation" (BHS 2008, Restoration 2009).
Citation
English, Josephine, Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan, April 29, 2008, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral histories, 2008.030.13; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
- English, Josephine, Dr.
- Obama, Barack
Topics
- African Americans
- Community centers
- Medicine
- Racism
- Theater
- Women
- Women's health services
Places
- Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Fort Greene (New York, N.Y.)
- New York (N.Y.)
Finding Aid
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral histories